16 May 07:54
ANNOUNCEMENT: OpenVPN Access Server beta available
James Yonan <jim <at> yonan.net>
2009-05-16 05:54:03 GMT
2009-05-16 05:54:03 GMT
As the founder of the OpenVPN project, I'm proud to announce the first beta release of our new product, the OpenVPN Access Server. With this product, we've taken years of feedback from the OpenVPN community and condensed it into a lightweight but powerful management application that we believe will dramatically simplify the effort required to configure and manage OpenVPN, while still enabling its most powerful features. It's been an interesting voyage for me, having started this project 7 years ago. At that time, "easy-to-use VPN" had a very different meaning that it does today. "easy-to-use" meant that you could get it running without having to recompile your kernel :) Over the years of developing and supporting OpenVPN, I've realized that getting VPNs to work right is hard -- sometimes even harder than writing the actual VPN code. I think the complexity arises from the fact that VPN administration combines 3 different areas of expertise -- (1) Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and certificate management, (2) IP Networking, including routing and firewall management, and (3) authentication models such as LDAP and RADIUS. To me, there was always a dilemma of sorts in how to address this complexity. Should OpenVPN stay true to the open source ideal of narrow focus and simplicity, where each tool should try to do a single job well, or should OpenVPN take the integrated approach and try to tackle all the issues that make VPNs complex, such as authentication, routing/firewall management, certificate management, etc? The narrow focus ideal makes for a powerful tool, but the need for our community to master PKI, routing, authentication, etc. in order to deploy a real-world VPN solution created a lot of stumbling blocks on the path to enlightenment. My openvpn-users inbox has over 26,500 messages since the project was launched back in 2002 -- it's a great testament to the strength of the community that has grown up around OpenVPN, but also a warning sign as well: many of these messages are calls for help that cite different variations of the same stumbling blocks. So my answer to the dilemma of lean-and-focussed, vs. integrated-and-easy-to-use is this: We will take both paths. On the open source front, we will continue to maintain and extend OpenVPN as a world-class VPN engine. We will be releasing a brand new open source Windows client shortly as a part of the 2.1 release, and we remain committed to maintaining, supporting, and extending OpenVPN as an open source project. On the other hand, we intend to use our commercial arm (OpenVPN Technologies) to really raise the bar on what is possible with VPN technology in general, and especially to take advanced features of OpenVPN such as PKI/certificate-management, LDAP/RADIUS authentication, gateway redirection, automated generation of Windows clients, etc. and make these features easily accessible to anyone who can operate a web browser. So without further fanfare, I invite each of you to test drive the OpenVPN Access Server: http://beta.openvpn.net/index.php/access-server/download-openvpn-as.html Let us know how you like it, what works, and what doesn't work. Our aim is to create a universal VPN management application that covers all the bases. Current features include: * Web-based management with integrated Admin UI. * Fully automated certificate/PKI management. * RADIUS, LDAP, and PAM authentication are all supported. * VPN users can log in via a web interface to download a dynamically generated, plug-and-play Windows installer, or just a client configuration file to use with the OpenVPN client of their choice. * We've developed a new Windows client from scratch that uses the OpenVPN Management interface, and we plan to open source this component for the upcoming OpenVPN 2.1 release. * The Access Server is just a front-end around the standard open source OpenVPN daemon, and all control occurs over the OpenVPN management interface. * The Access Server is compatible with any OpenVPN 2.1 client. * While the Access Server is a commercial product, and not open source, we will be open sourcing components of the product such as the new Windows client, and of course revenue from the product will help to sustain development and support of the OpenVPN core. * The Access Server will be free for up to 2 concurrent connections, and inexpensive licenses will be available for additional concurrent connections (we're looking at pricing of $5/concurrent client which includes 1 year of access to our support center and software updates). Below are the Release Notes for this release. We hope you try out the OpenVPN Access Server v1.1.0 and we look forward to receiving your feedback. Currently, we support the following Linux platforms for the Access Server. We are in the process of expanding this list and will be supporting CentOS shortly: * 64-bit Fedora 8, 9, 10 * 64-bit Ubuntu 8, 9 ------------------------------------------------------------------ OpenVPN Access Server v1.1.0b2 (beta 2) RELEASE NOTES Feedback and Support: -------------------- We appreciate your feedback on this release. Register and login at the Support Center to use the support ticketing system: http://beta.openvpn.net/index.php/access-server/support-center.html New in Access Server v1.1.0: --------------------------- Below are the main enhancements added since the Access Server v1.0.0 release: -- Admin Web UI for configuration and management, including improved configuration options -- Simplified CLI utility (ovpn-init) for initial configuration -- Multi-profile support on Windows Client GUI -- New method of authenticating via LDAP with enhanced configurability Changes Since Access Server v1.1.0b: ----------------------------------- The Access Server v1.1.0b2 contains these improvements since the v1.1.0b release: -- Better interoperation with installed OpenVPN open-source clients (installer no longer removes all TAP interfaces) -- Corrected version numbering of the Windows Client, so that it properly detects an installed OpenVPN-AS v1.0.0 client. -- Fix for an issue occasionally seen on Windows Client GUI where the TAP adapter cannot get an IP address due to a problem in DHCP handshaking between the TAP adapter and the Windows DHCP client. -- Fix for an iptables issue that caused NAT forwarding to fail. Installation: ------------ After installing the OpenVPN-AS package (e.g., using 'yum' on Fedora platforms), run the initialization script: /usr/local/openvpn_as/bin/ovpn-init You will be prompted for initial settings for the Admin Web UI networking and for authenticating the administrator. When ovpn-init completes, it displays the URL to use for logging into the Admin Web UI to continue configuring OpenVPN-AS. License Keys: ------------ You can use the Admin UI after ovpn-init completes. However, to turn on the VPN Server component of OpenVPN-AS, you must have an activated license key. To get started, you can obtain a free, 5-concurrent-user license by registering and logging in at the License Key page: http://beta.openvpn.net/index.php/access-server/license-key.html Enter the license key into the "New License Key" box of the "License" page in the Admin Web UI. Known Issues: ------------ -- Accessing the Client Web Server without an activated license key yields an error message "error communicating with server agent". -- Windows Client status display may remain at "Connecting TCP..." or "Connecting UDP..." when communication with VPN server fails. -- Occasionally, when the Windows Client GUI attempts to connect to the VPN Server for the first time, the connection may stall at the "Connecting" stage and not complete. -- Administrators should ensure that the VPN Server is not configured to run on the same (IP Address:port) combination as the Client Web Server or Admin UI. Currently, the Admin UI does not flag this condition with an error, though it is an invalid configuration. -- The PAM authentication module uses the 'sshd' PAM service, so the /etc/pam.d/sshd file must exist and be properly configured for user authentication. -- The Ubuntu package does not configure the system so that the openvpnas service starts during system startup. Best Regards, James Yonan & the OpenVPN Technologies Team ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Crystal Reports - New Free Runtime and 30 Day Trial Check out the new simplified licensing option that enables unlimited royalty-free distribution of the report engine for externally facing server and web deployment. http://p.sf.net/sfu/businessobjects
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